] Could the recognition of our imperfect understanding
] serve to establish the open society as a desirable form
] of social organization? I believe it could, although
] there are formidable difficulties in the way. We must
] promote a belief in our own fallibility to the status
] that we normally confer on a belief in ultimate truth.

Wow, this might be the most important thing I've read since MemeStreams started.

First off, despite the title, this is not an anti-capitalist screed. George Soros is an investment banker and the 38th richest man in the country. In fact, this article isn't really about capitalism. This article is about everything. The title is so poor that I almost changed it.

What Soros is saying about Capitalism is that there are people who accept the concept of free trade in a ideological way, in an absolutist way, and that is a problem. The problem with religious states, which requires the separation of church and state, is that when laws are the product of man, they are open to debate, but when laws are the product of God, to question is heresy. If you have a society in which the law cannot be questioned, you have a totalitarian society. It is only a matter of time.

The thing that Soros is saying here is that any absolutist ideology can be abused in this manner. It doesn't matter if your ideology is based on the Bible, or the writings of Marx, or the writings of Adam Smith. If you have a nation of people who believe that their principals are beyond question, ultimately you have a totalitarianism. It is only a matter of time before the inconsistencies your absolutism forces you to ignore cause fissures which break your society down.

Reading this essay caused me to think back across many of the discussions that I've had on this site over the past two years. My instinct that Fukuyama's belief in an ultimate solution was flawed. Being able to see great tragedies of history reflected in the idea of pre-emptive military action and being unable to demonstrate that its not "ok" if you're doing it for Democracy. In our worries about the state of the IT industry. In my various discussions about politics with people from various perspectives.

I've had a really hard time deciding where I fit in the political spectrum. I know what the tests tell me, but somehow I'm never comfortable with the answers. When I talk to conservatives they think I'm a liberal. When I talk to liberals they thing I'm a conservative (or at the least that I've been duped by them). One thing I've come away from years and years of these conversations with is the idea that people usually intertwine their identity and their perspective. They are a certain thing. They believe that thing is right. So they think a certain way. The way they think defines what group they see themselves in, which defines who they are, and we repeat. After years they get quite locked into a c... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

The Capitalist Threat - George Soros

] This Thursday, January 15 the Secretary of State's Voting
] Systems Panel will meet in Sacramento to discuss the
] status of Diebold and its voting systems in California.
]
] {snip}
]
] Back in October 2003, Diebold sought state certification
] of its newest voting machine, the Accuvote-TSx, a lighter
] version of its current model, the Accuvote-TS, used in
] Alameda and Plumas counties. But just before
] certification was taken up by the Secretary of State's
] Voting System Panel (VSP), the Secretary of State's
] office learned that Diebold had installed an uncertified
] version of its software into Alameda's voting system
] prior to California's historic, October 7 recall
] election.
]
] {snip}
]
] Because Diebold's actions in Alameda were a violation of
] state law, the Secretary of State ordered an audit of all
] 17 California counties using Diebold voting equipment,
] which includes touchscreen as well as paper-based optical
] scan systems. Preliminary results of that audit were
] released at the December 15, 2003 VSP meeting.
]
] The audit found that Diebold had installed uncertified
] versions of software or firmware in all 17 counties it
] services in California. In five counties, the audit
] showed that the versions of software Diebold reported to
] auditors that the counties were using were not the same
] versions as the auditors found in use in those counties.
] In three counties, including Los Angeles, which used
] Diebold touchscreens for early absentee voting, the
] software used was not only uncertified by the state but
] was not approved by the federal government, either.

I can't say that I'm suprised...

--Abaddon

Diebold Illegally installs uncertified E-Voting software

Guys, thats most evil. Its pure evil. Evil Evil Evil...

"If you know my name
don't speak it out
it holds a power..."
- Einstuerzende Neubauten : Chrysantemum

evil

Chock full o' good "insider" informtion on the miltary and intelligence communities internationally.

Cryptome

Sometimes i think Ann Coulter exists only to enrage me. She's aleady called me a traitor to my nation, and called for my imprisonment and hanging, for no more than bringing up the fact that maybe, perhaps, the president of our country wasn't completely forthright with us about certain things. Things that involve the lives of millions and, as it turns out, the deaths of thousands. And then she has the audacity to claim that liberals are mindless drones who will vote for whomever the democratic party puts forth. *I'm* the one in lockstep? Please, Ann, take a look at your own jackboots and check real carefully for the 'W' emblazoned on them, you complete tool of neoconservatism.

I won't get into her tearing apart one poor girl whose emotion clearly makes her a retard incapable of making important choices. We must base our decisions on military pragmatism, and anything else makes you no better than a terrorist.

I'm pretty sure the Democrats aren't the ones comparing Dean to McGovern and "wearily predicting a landslide for Bush". Once again, Ann makes a blanket statement and provides ABSOLUTELY NO SUPPORT for it. For every democrat or liberal i know, a Bush landslide is nothing more than nightmare vision... perhaps we're all prescient, and that's the prediction she means. Hmph. This is a flat out lie to add to her many others.

And from here, we move onto some really classic Coulter : Whenever liberals all start singing from the same hymnal, they are up to no good. (Or since we're talking about American liberals here, maybe I should say, "when they all start reading from the same Quran.")
There are a few different things going on here, so lets analyze each of them. First, she makes the claim that unity of voice is evidence of, what, some deep, dark, liberal conspiracy? This from the very same woman who believes that any disagreement with the current administration is treasonous? Once again, Ann, use the mirror. You're the one with the Hymnal, though it has no songs of love, joy or hope in it. Then, she goes racist. Clearly anyone with a Quran is a terrorist and HATES everything american. And clearly liberals are all so ANTI AMERICA that we reinforce our hatred with the terrorists own training manual the Quran. Goddammit Ann, have you ever even seen a Q'ran? No, didn't think so. Then shut the fuck up and keep your xenophobia and racism to your fucking self.

Ok, now she attacks Dean, calling him appalling, spineless and weak. Well, the first is certainly true for her, considering she thinks he's no better than Osama bin Laden, so, no surprise there. I won't even get close to fully dealing with her hawkish discussion of what does and doesn't constitute bravery -- apparently it involves killing someone, or at least taking off in a plane.

Oh, and one of the stand out quotes of the whole piece "the North Vietnamese were savage beasts, but they never attacked America on its own soil. ... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

Yahoo! News - VEGAN COMPUTER GEEKS FOR DEAN

the geneva laser is on right now and the Rio and New York ones open in an hour (it's 3:20 pm est)...

SMS the world, or use the link to send one online.

The Hello World Project 2/3

] Welcome, lowly pilgrim. You stand before the doors of the
] first church of the Grey Goo. Abandon hope! Seek your
] salvation in the Grey Goo.

the internet is a strange place...

--Abaddon

The First Church of the Grey Goo

This post was originally intended as a reply to a thread on memestreams about Bill Joy, and in the process of writing it sort of became its own topic of discussion.

I just got finished reading a few articles from Bill Joy including, "why the future doesn't need us" (search memestreams for those threads)...On some key points I agree with Mr. Joy. I agree that we are on the cusp of a potentially catastrophic era in human history. I agree that ethics is not always enough of a guiding principle in the scientific research. And I agree that in the short term limits on the spread of knowledge may be needed to avoid disaster, but I would stress that this can only be a short term solution to the problems ahead; reliance on secrecy as long term defense will be disastrous.

Joy makes a statement that we have not yet reached the point of no return in nano-technology research. This is the primary point at which I disagree with him. I feel that we passed the point of no return in 1959 when Feynman wrote his now famous “There's plenty of room at the bottom.” The idea was first conceived, and the meme began to spread. It is now to the point where it has taken hold and we can not waste valuable time arguing about whether or not we should continue with our research. I believe the research will continue with or without those of us that feel that ethics must be of supreme consideration in the development of potentially dangerous technologies.

I very much like his idea of a hippocratic oath for technologist, engineers, and scientists; though I don't believe this goes far enough.

If people believe, as I do, that nano-technology is in our future, then we must prepare for its consequences. As I have expressed on a number of occasions, only those in control of the technology can shape its future.

In the 1940's when the United States was the only nuclear power, did policy makers believe simple containment of knowledge for the creation of nuclear weapons would stop nuclear proliferation? If policy makers believed this was an absolute solution then history has clearly shown them wrong.

Restricting the spread of knowledge does not stop others from developing that knowledge independently; this is what policy makers must come to understand.

All that is needed to insure the eventual acquisition of a given knowledge is the continued belief in its utility.

Re-read that last sentence as it is the central point that I am trying to make. The spreading of a meme of this sort is all that is needed to inspire others to attain the knowledge for themselves. Thus other safeguards must be in place to insure the safe and ethical use of this knowledge.

Something needs to be said for keeping such knowledge secret. It does work to slow the spread of knowledge but ultimately can not stop it. That is to say, while there is a continued belief in the utility of such knowledge it will eventually be attained by... [ Read More (0.8k in body) ]

"It is the central focus of my life. America, under Bush, is a danger to the world. And I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is."

Jeremy said:
The wrinkle in Soros's plan is that none of the major Democratic candidates are a particularly good fit for his foreign policy.

I'll add:
The campaign finance issues here are also interesting. This is the first time that major donations have moved to proxy organizations. What difference does it make?

Soros's Deep Pockets vs. Bush

It's strange to have gone from years of uncertainty and vaporware to a steady annual supply of major new operating system releases from Apple. But some important questions quickly follow. Do I really want to pay $129 every year for the next version of Mac OS X? Worse, do I really want to deal with the inevitable upgrade hassles and 10.x.0 release bugs every single year? Just as the 10.2.x code base was finally settling down (the botched 10.2.8 release notwithstanding), the Mac community is asked to start all over again with 10.3.0.

Mac OS X 10.3 — the definitive Panther review